Most of us have either played darts, practiced archery, or hunted before. If not, the main concepts of these activities are to make your target (preferably the bullseye which gets you a lot of points).

While this might seem like a simple task to some, it is incredibly hard and takes much practice. The same thing goes for finding your target market in the business world. But it is essential if you want your business to gain success/

A recent NiemanLab interview with Piano CEO Trevor Kaufman talks about how important an industry’s relationship is with its consumers.

One of the things he mentioned in the article was the impact of a strategy. A business is not effective without a strategy, especially for customer relationships. I think companies like Piano, noted in the article, are extremely helpful when it comes to helping news organizations and other media companies build a more successful customer marketing strategy. A strong customer marketing strategy will help you find your target market.

“Have your reporters cover stuff that no one else is covering, and let them ignore stuff that everyone else is covering.” This quote is from the article, A Crazy Idea for Funding Local News: Charge People for It by Farhad Manjoo.

Be just the right amount different and bring out the story nobody has heard yet. Is it just me or is the media world getting a “crowded” when it comes to getting stories out. So many journalists and news outlets are in a race to get their story out first. The problem with this is accuracy.

Recently. stories have been published with inaccurate information because the author did not fact-check or have a reliable source. When this happens, news organizations lose credibility. So be different, choose a perspective that no one has seen yet and grab your audiences attention.

Maybe your target market has a specific demographic. In the article, How to Define Your Target Market by Mandy Porta, she explains how demographics play a big role in building a solid foundation for your business.

One of the things Porta says in the article is to “figure out not only who has a need for your product or service, but also who is most likely to buy it.” This to me sounds exactly what a target market is. Who are the people you are trying to sell your product to? What do they like? What do they do? These are all questions necessary to think about to establish a solid customer market and audience.

Know the difference between target market and target audience. The YouTube video, “Target Market vs Target Audience” by e-presence Consultants Inc. explains it simply.

A target market is one thing, but your audience is much more. Your audience is everyone affected by your product. If your target market is children’s books, for example, your audience is also the parents, grandparents, peers, school teachers, and anyone else in the child’s life.

If you really want to hit the bullseye, try to figure out these things I mentioned for your business. From there, you will successfully find your target market.